The first Summer School on Interdependent Inequalities in Latin America, organized jointly by desiguALdades.net and CEM (Center for Metropolitan Studies), will take place in São Paulo, from 1 to 5 November, 2010. The organizers will welcome up to 30 juniors scholars or researchers from around the world for this intensive program.

The organizers

desiguALdades.net is an interdisciplinary, international, and multi-institutional research network on social inequalities in Latin America, supported by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF, German Federal Ministry of Education and Research) in the frame of its funding line on area studies. The Lateinamerika-Institut of the Freie Universität Berlin (LAI, Institute for Latin American Studies) and the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut do Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz (IAI, Ibero-American Institute of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Berlin) are in overall charge of the research network.

CEM (Centro de Estudos da Metrópole - Center for Metropolitan Studies) is a Brazilian research center with a multidisciplinary approach whose main aim is to identify the most relevant factors to explain living conditions in metropolises. It is focused on the mechanisms that produce and reproduce inequalities regarding job markets, State action, public policies and sociability. CEM’s researches are sponsored by Fapesp (São Paulo Research Foundation) through its RIDC programme (Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers), and by CNPq (Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) through its INCT programme (Scientific and Technological National Institutes).

Scope of the Summer School

The Summer School on Interdependent Inequalities in Latin America is intended to create space for researchers to explore the mechanisms through which inequalities are produced and reproduced in Latin America. By putting emphasis on the interdependencies between different world regions, desiguALdades.net aims at overcoming the methodological nationalism that until now has dominated research on social inequality. Such a paradigmatic shift, by systematically focusing on the consequences of growing global and transregional connectivity, is expected to shed new light on the severe and highly persisting forms of social, economic, and cultural inequalities that have characterized Latin America throughout its history. CEM employs concepts of poverty and inequalities that go beyond definitions based exclusively on income. Different dimensions of deprivation – e.g. deficient access to jobs or social services, as well as fragile social ties – also shape the well-being of individuals and communities. The research challenge is to develop a more accurate understanding of these critical dimensions and building explanatory bridges between them.

The Summer School will be guided by three central research questions:

1) To what extent the distribution of resources and the access to aspired social positions in Latin America are shaped by global and transregional interdependencies, in addition to local, regional and national ones?

2) To what extent does the embeddedness of inequalities create enduring power differences and unequal opportunities for the social, economic, and political participation of the respective individuals, communities, or societies? And what kind of entanglements does create new opportunities for overcoming inequalities?

3) To what extent do different dimensions of deprivation overlap and create cumulative disadvantages or, on the contrary, favor the relief or overcoming of poverty and inequalities? To what extent do access to jobs and social services, as well as certain designs of social ties, contribute to minimize or deepen inequalities?

Courses/content

• Classes, workshops and lectures with international specialists.

• Discussions of papers prepared in advance and presented by the participants.

• Interdisciplinary readings (including those ones previous to the courses).

The activities will be at a postgraduate/PhD level, and the language of the instruction for all courses is

English, Spanish and/or Portuguese.

Participants

The main target group of the Summer School is doctoral students from different Social Sciences disciplines with interest in inequalities in Latin American contexts. In addition, postdoctoral researchers are welcome to apply.

Extracurricular activities

The program of the Summer School also comprises:

• Visit to a neighborhood at the outskirts of São Paulo, joined by researchers, inhabitants, and members of local associations.

• Farewell dinner.

Eligibility/requirements for doctoral students

• an outstanding academic degree in social sciences (MA, MSc or equivalent) not older then 3 years.

• enrollment as a student in a PhD program for at least one semester.

• research background in Latin America.

• currently living in Latin America.

The organizers assume the candidates have good knowledge of the languages of the courses (English, Spanish and/or Portuguese). There will be no simultaneous translation during the Summer School.

Eligibility/requirements for postdocs

• an outstanding doctoral/ PhD degree in social sciences not older than 5 years.

• brief essay that addresses questions of social inequalities in Latina America (see research concept of desiguALdades.net).

• research background in Latin America.

• currently living in Latin America.

The organizers assume the candidates have good knowledge of the languages of the courses (English, Spanish and/or Portuguese). There will be no simultaneous translation during the event.

Travel expenses

The courses of the Summer School are free of charge. The organizers will provide accommodation

and basic meals for all participants. As for travel expenses, the candidates are oriented to search for

sponsorship from their institutions of origin. In case that is not viable, the organization will consider the

possibility of financing totally or partially the participant’s travel expenses.

How to apply

Candidates should provide:

1. Application form (click here to access).

2. CV ( “currículo lattes” for Brazilians).

3. Certificate of being engaged in a postgraduate course.

4. A brief essay with details of the candidate’s current research project as well as its connections with the themes of the Summer School with up to 1.500 words.

5. Two letters of recommendation assessing the candidate’s skills and how the knowledge acquired in the Summer School may help the development of his/her own project.

IMPORTANT: All the material required for the application should be sent in electronic version to the email desigualdades@cmetropole.org.br until the deadline for applications. Items 1 to 4 should be sent by the candidate; the two letters of recommendation (item 5) should be sent to the e-mail above directly from their respective authors.

Deadline for applications

All the material required for application should be sent to the organizers no later than August 15, 2010.

Further information

For further information on the Summer School, please access:

www.desigualdades.net

web.fflch.usp.br/centrodametropole

Or contact:

desigualdades@cmetropole.org.br

For desiguALdades.net Research Concept, click here.

For further information on courses, requirements and how to apply, please click on:

Call for applications - English

Application form - English

Convocatoria - Español

Formulario de inscripción - Español

Chamada de inscrições - Português

Formulário de inscrição - Português

For further information about the organizers, access www.desigualdades.net.